Alright, so if you've been seeing Candace Owens, some researcher named Leah, Shawn Ryan, and this app called Glacier all mixed up in the same drama on X the last few days, here's the full breakdown of what actually went down.
Leah, who goes by theleahfiles online, runs a Substack where she does long research pieces. She presents herself as having about 20 years of background in intelligence and DoD work, plus corporate intelligence stuff looking into fraud and financial trails. On July 27 this year she taped an episode for the Shawn Ryan Show. Shawn Ryan is the former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor who hosts a big podcast. According to Leah, right before they started filming she was told she could not name certain people connected to funding surveillance technology. She has pointed specifically to names like Peter Thiel.
Shawn Ryan did not release that episode at the time. On October 19 he put out the full unedited interview himself. His statement said he had serious concerns about the truthfulness of some of her statements and decided not to air it originally, but he was releasing the raw footage so people could judge for themselves. He also noted that his investments are public on his LinkedIn and that he backs companies like Anduril and Shield AI because he believes in the tech for the American warfighter.
The next day, October 20, Leah dropped a Substack piece titled "Glacier: The Privacy App With a Past It Erased." Glacier is a consumer privacy app that offers a VPN, DNS protection, and disposable burner phone numbers. It costs about $14.99 a month plus extra for the numbers. Shawn Ryan is listed as a co-founder and has heavily promoted it on his show. Leah's piece walks through company records, old archived pages, and policy language. Her main points:
The privacy policy changed shortly after the app started charging customers. Early language said no logs were stored. Later versions said the company keeps the numbers you call, the numbers that call you, the duration, and the audio of voicemails, all tied to your account.
The burner numbers are actually Twilio lines with Glacier's name on them. Twilio has a track record of complying with a high percentage of government data requests.
The company behind the tech has roots in a government contractor setup. Older materials referenced a location near Fort Meade and NSA. Some of that history appears to have been cleaned up on public pages before the consumer app launch. The CTO has an NSA engineering background according to the research.
She also noted that Shawn Ryan's co-founder status was confirmed in a press release but not always disclosed clearly in every episode promotion.
Around October 22 Candace Owens' show ran a Glacier sponsorship ad. People noticed the timing and started asking questions. Candace pushed back hard. She defended reading the ad, said Leah's research had clear errors, and accused her of misrepresenting a private DM conversation they had. Candace said Leah flew off the handle when questioned about details, called her an AI bot and an idiot in a late-night X space, and was spinning a narrative about the shelved interview. Candace also brought up Leah's background in tournament poker, framing it as relevant to credibility.
Leah responded that poker is just a hobby with no real cash value outside of events, defended the accuracy of her Glacier piece with sources, and pointed out that Shawn Ryan has other sponsors and investments that connect back to the same circles she was restricted from naming, including Polymarket which has ties to Peter Thiel. She maintained that the interview restrictions and the later release of the footage fit a pattern of protecting those interests.
Shawn Ryan has stayed mostly on the side of releasing the full interview and standing by his public investment disclosures. The whole thing has been playing out across Substack, X posts, Spaces, and other shows, with people arguing over whether the privacy policy change is a big deal, how much the contractor history matters for a consumer app, and whether the interview drama was about accuracy or about protecting business interests.
That is the complete chain as it sits right now. Leah published the critique of the app. Candace defended promoting it and went after Leah's methods and background. Shawn Ryan released the raw interview and restated his reasons for the original decision. Everyone has their documents and screenshots out. The arguments are public.
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